Chiesa di San Lorenzo

Spello's Church of San Lorenzo is the town's second collegiate church. Its layered interior includes a marble tabernacle carved by Flaminio Vacca in 1587, stained glass depicting the martyrdom of Saint Lawrence, Renaissance paintings and an inlaid sacristy cabinet bearing the Baglioni arms.

Why it matters

San Lorenzo developed as a collegiate church after Pope Alexander III installed a prior and six canons there in 1160. Its Romanesque core, later aisles and sixteenth-century remodelling reflect successive phases in the town's ecclesiastical history. The marble tabernacle by Flaminio Vacca, dated 1587, is a notable work in the church.

What to notice

The tabernacle stands in the Chapel of the Sacrament, an eighteenth-century setting for the Renaissance sculpture. In the right aisle, the chapel of the Vergine Incoronata preserves an image of the crowned Virgin, traditionally associated with San Bernardino da Siena's preaching in Spello. Stained glass depicts Saint Lawrence's martyrdom on the gridiron. Other paintings include the mystical marriage of Saint Catherine by Bartolomeo da Miranda and a Nativity by Andrea Camassei. The sacristy has a sixteenth-century inlaid cabinet bearing the Baglioni crest.

Context and history

The church rose in the first half of the twelfth century and gained collegiate status in 1160. It was damaged during conflict with Frederick II's forces around 1239; the side aisles followed in the 1280s. A substantial remodelling came in the 1530s and 1540s, after Pope Paul III's visit, when the roof was vaulted and the facade took its present form. Members of the Baglioni family held the priorate in later centuries, including Gentile from 1498 and Leone from 1528.